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Palestinian resistance forces have shot down another Israeli drone in the Gaza Strip, the third unmanned aerial vehicle the regime has lost over the past few days.

Palestinian media reported that the Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), downed and captured the device in the east of the besieged territory near the city of Khan Yunis on Saturday evening.

The Zionist military has not yet commented on the report.

The Palestinian Hamas resistance movement on Monday night shot down an Israeli drone east of Rafah in southern Gaza Strip, a day after the Tel Aviv regime carried out a fresh wave of air raids against the besieged coastal enclave.

‘Israeli’ Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the right are weak, ynet reported.

“Netanyahu and the right are weak. The ‘Israeli’ prime minister is the weak right,” Yoram Yuval wrote for the paper:

No impressive baritone, nor magnificent mushroom clouds rising from bombarded buildings in Gaza, nor the raucous pronouncements of right-wing spokesmen can disguise the truth from us and the entire world: Our very own Benjamin Netanyahu is weak. No one in Gaza is afraid of him, and rightly so.

When fighting terrorism, everything is psychological. When fighting terrorism, emotion and perception determine the end result, not facts. The word terror literally means great fear, and this is the secret of its power – not the ability to overcome the enemy, but the ability to sow great fear.

As such, in confronting Hamas, psychology is much more important than the disparity between army strength.

There is a wonderful Arabic saying that goes something like this: “We asked for the shame, but the shame did not want us.” This is what happened to Netanyahu and the weak Likud.

Hamas does not work for Netanyahu, and was only willing to go along with this routine until the elections. Hamas had a clear interest in Netanyahu being elected, and so kept quiet until that happened. But now that he has been elected, Hamas is no longer willing to play his game.

When confronted with his inaction, Netanyahu says: “What do you want from me? The army is reluctant to enter into a ground battle, and they tell me to improve the conditions in Gaza so that the Gazans have something to lose, and that’s what I do.” But that’s just spin, not to mention a lie.

Netanyahu, like all the weak right, has no strategy other than to do nothing and hope nothing comes of anything.

I don’t know what Netanyahu will decide to do next, but I know what he won’t do. The man who made the phrase “We will topple the Hamas regime” into his own personal slogan will never actually do it.

Israeli Media: Hamas Can’t Be Defeated!

April 1, 2019

Hamas Palestinian movement cannot be defeated, and invading the coastal enclave would be like fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, Israeli journalist said.

In an article entitled “Israel has no way of winning in Gaza”, Israeli journalists at Ynet, Oded Shalom, said that Hamas is “far behind” the Israeli army in “every military aspect and there is no room for comparison.”

“I am sorry to say that even as the election campaign enters its home stretch, none of the candidates has the courage to speak the truth about the Gaza Strip: Hamas cannot be defeated,” Shalom said.

The Israeli journalist noted meanwhile that the occupation military is equipped with the most modern technology, adding that “: forces from the air, land and sea could precisely hit and destroy any target in the Gaza Strip from miles away. Yet Hamas is invincible, and that is the truth.”

Then, Shalom said that any Israeli invasion of the besieged strip of Gaza would be like fighting in the jungles of Vietnam.

“Invading Gaza will be like fighting in the jungles of Vietnam. The IDF’s technological advantage will diminish in the maze of tunnels that Hamas has dug. The terror group may ask for a temporary cease-fire, but will never surrender, and Israel – subjected to relentless rocket fire, loss of life and damage to property – will agree to such a truce. It will be a rerun of Operation Protective Edge in 2014 and all the other military operations in Gaza that came before. And that, too, is the truth,” Shalom said, referring to Israeli occupation military and to Hamas resistance movement.

In this context, he said Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu is cautious when unleashing the military might of the occupation military on Gaza.

“One good thing that I can say about Netanyahu is that he is the only of the candidates who is not making unrealistic video clips emblazoned with the slogan “Let the IDF win.””

However, Shalom noted that Netanyahu “lacks the courage of leader, like the courage late prime minister Ariel Sharon had when he came up with and gained public opinion for the disengagement from Gaza.”

“A courageous leader should say that Hamas in Gaza cannot be defeated, that those launching firebombs attached to balloons or guerrilla fighters hiding in tunnels cannot be defeated.”

Shalom said meanwhile that the Zionist occupation needs to negotiate with Hamas, but noted that negotiation would take place “by sending suitcases filled with cash but with the mediation of Egypt and the aid of the oil rich Gulf states.”

“We need a long-term cease fire agreement that would include building houses and infrastructure in Gaza. We will not reach a peace deal with Hamas, but we will be able to live next to them in peace,” he added, clarifying that the “balance of terror will be mutual like the balance of terror we have with Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

“But it is our fate to always live by our sword,” the Israeli journalist added.

“Marathon talks” held by Egypt with Palestinian factions in Gaza are set to continue on Friday to broker a deal with Israel that could ease demonstrations on Gaza’s eastern boundary that are about to mark their first anniversary.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh confirmed the talks and some of the group’s demands for an easing of the more than decade-long siege of Gaza in a statement on Friday, saying they have reached a “crossroads”, in a week when his own offices were destroyed by Israel during an escalation in Gaza that was feared could become another war.

The anniversary of the Great March of Return protests is expected to be marked with another mass showing on Saturday, instead of the usual Friday, to coincide with Land Day, which last year saw 19 killed as they launched the protest movement by demanding the right for Palestinian refugees to return to their ancestral homes.

Gaza’s future hangs in the balance as Egypt looks to broker Hamas-Israel truce

Haniyeh said the nature of Saturday’s demonstration would depend on how Israel responds to its demands.

“The Israeli occupation will endure severe consequences in the case that it does not reply positively to the understandings,” Haniyeh’s statement said.

An Egyptian team of intelligence and military officials arrived in Gaza on Wednesday night and immediately started meetings at the office of Yaha Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, which were later joined by leaders of the Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) factions and ran until early in the morning.

All sides had been keeping a tight lid on the details of the negotiations but Haniyeh’s office said in a statement on Friday that they wanted to “ensure the end of the suffering of our people” by easing the blockade of Gaza, including by ending an electricity crisis that limits the enclave to only a few hours of power a day and creating fishing and employment projects in Gaza.

The Egyptian delegation consists of the chief of the Palestinian file in the Egyptian Intelligence Agency, Major General Ahmad Abdel-Khaliq, Undersecretary of the Egyptian Intelligence Agency General Ahmad Farouq, and Brigadier General Mohammed Tawsin.

Leaked terms

An informed Hamas source told MEE the organisation does not want to speak about the details of a potential deal, because it is not sure how Israel would respond, but outlined some of the main requests made by Hamas.

He confirmed their main terms were an increase in the number of truckloads carrying commodities to Gaza, allowing medical supplies to hospitals, easing restrictions on imports and exports, the entry of some materials currently banned by Israel on the grounds they could be used for weapon-making, an increased fishing zone and the expansion of a UN job creation programme to cover 40,000 workers.

He also confirmed that the Egyptian mediators have told them that Israel’s demand included ending night demonstrations along the eastern boundary between Gaza and Israel, keeping the Friday protests of the Great March of Return peaceful and stopping weekly sea protests near the Israeli Kibbutz Zikim.

Hamas had scaled back the protests during earlier talks that eventually broke down because of opposition from the West Bank-based rival Palestinian Authority, but since February “Night Disturbance Units” have resumed protests that have frustrated Israel.

Hamas’s initial demands had included an eventual agreement for a port or airport that would connect blockaded Gaza to the outside world, a step which had been hoped could be implemented in the future.

However, a Hamas source told MEE that, during a recent meeting with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, the Egyptian delegation had refused to pass on to the Israelis Palestinian demands regarding a port or airport or a prisoner exchange deal – arguing that the priority was on immediate steps that could ease the siege and avoid an explosion in Gaza.

Hamas spokesman Abdul-Latif al-Qanou told MEE there would be “tangible” results from the ongoing Egyptian mediation.

Palestinian pledge

There appears to be some internal Palestinian agreement on the terms ahead of the 52nd week of Great March of Return protests, with organisers mobilising but appealing to participants to show a high degree of restraint.

In a press conference held on Thursday by National Committee member Khalid al-Batch, part of Islamic Jihad’s political wing, he reiterated the importance of participation in the protests but also echoed a call made by Hamas to ensure the protests were peaceful in order to limit casualties but also implying that the nature of the protests could affect the talks with Israel.

The Gaza Ministry of Health has reported that Israeli forces have killed at least 256 Palestinians and wounded more than 29,000 since the beginning of the protests.

“We want to cut short the way ahead of the Israeli occupation, which always blames the Palestinian resistance groups for the failure of reaching a truce and easing the more than decade-old siege imposed on Gaza,” Batch said in the press conference.

A senior source in a political faction participating in the march committee told MEE that protests would be gradually scaled down and eventually ended should a truce agreement be reached to improve the lives of people in Gaza.

A member of the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) political bureau, Talal Abu Zarifa, told MEE that the active efforts of the Egyptian delegation to obtain a truce come from Cairo’s recognition of the risk that the situation in Gaza could devolve into all-out conflict.

“All options are open for the resistance” should Israel remain uncompromising in Gaza, Abu Zarifa said.

Pointing to the agreement previously brokered by Egypt in November, following an ill-fated Israeli military raid in Gaza that led to a brief but heated escalation of violence, Abu Zarifa blamed Israeli “intransigence and the evasion of obligations” for the breakdown of the tentative truce.

Israeli agreement

Members of the Egyptian intelligence delegation left Gaza early Thursday to meet Israeli officials and discuss the latest updates about their talks with the Palestinian factions. They returned to Gaza in the evening and Haniyeh’s office said on Friday that talks would continue.

“Hamas is ready for all scenarios. The movement will not hesitate to take any action that serves the interests of the Palestinian people and ensures that the Palestinian sacrifices at the Great Return March have not been made in vain,” Haniyeh said.

Israeli news website Ynet News said on Thursday night that “efforts to restore the calm between Israel and Hamas after several days of fighting appeared to be taking effect.”

The news website referred to remarks made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who reportedly said Israel would not opt to carry out a military offensive on Gaza.

Already embroiled in a number of corruption scandals, Netanyahu has been embarrassed by night-time demonstrations in Gaza and protesters’ use of incendiary kites and balloons, which burnt down acres of land in southern Israel last summer.

Yet despite Netanyahu’s inflammatory rhetoric seeking to highlight his iron-fisted approach against Hamas, Palestinian columnist on Israeli affairs Saleh al-Naami said a military escalation in Gaza would not serve the Israeli leader’s electoral objectives.

Netanyahu, Naami said, has shown extreme caution in Gaza, despite criticism at home for failing to stamp out the Great March of Return.

“Netanyahu understands that Gaza and Hamas have nothing to lose,” Naami said, adding that Hamas and other political and armed factions in Gaza were ready to go all the way in the event of a military escalation, regardless of the Israeli election.

“The resistance in Gaza does not accept to be used as a pawn by candidates in the Israeli elections,” Islamic Jihad spokesman Musab al-Buraim said to MEE. “We will accept no less than easing the siege on the political and humanitarian levels.”

‘Skillful negotiators’

The talks appeared to be in peril earlier this week when a rocket from Gaza hit a home in Tel Aviv. Hamas said the rocket had been fired mistakenly but the result was a series of air strikes by Israel on Gaza as well as a number of rockets being launched by Hamas into neighbouring Israeli areas.

Dr Adnan Abu Amer, professor of political studies at Al-Umma University in Gaza, suggested however that the escalation was part of the negotiations.

“This is one of the tactics used by skilful negotiators,” he told MEE. “Hamas could persuade the Egyptian mediators and Israel that the rockets were launched mistakenly both times but I do not believe so.”

He suggested Hamas had calculated that Israel would try to avoid any escalation in the run-up to parliamentary elections in early April.

“The Palestinian negotiators knew that the Israeli side is approaching two deadlines: Saturday’s one-million-man demonstration and the elections. So they wanted to put heavy pressure on them.”

Gaza – ““Israel” is an invader. It must leave as soon as possible. The only solution is for the Palestinian brothers to destroy this corrupt entity as soon as possible.”

The above is an objective laid out by Imam Ruhollah Musavi Khomeini following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in Iran. While the Shah’s Iran was the most prominent supporter of the “Israeli” occupation entity in the region, the Imam’s revolution constituted an actual uprising against this reality. The Islamic Revolution, which closed the door to relations with the US and closed Washington’s embassy, opened its doors at that time to the late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. It opened the Palestinian Embassy in the Islamic Republic by removing the flag of the usurper entity and jointly raised the Palestinian flag with the Palestine Liberation Organization.

“In order to liberate Al-Quds (Jerusalem), it is necessary to take advantage of the machine guns that depend on faith and the ability of Islam, leave the game of politics that reeks of surrender and abandon the idea of appeasing the great powers,” Imam Khomeini said.

From here and since the victory of the Islamic Revolution, Iran has been an essential supporter of the various resistance factions in occupied Palestine.

According to the leader of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine, Khader Habib, the Islamic Revolution has placed Iran squarely among those with a bias towards the cause of the Palestinian nation.

“Imam Khomeini’s statements and terminologies such as when he said that “Israel” is a cancerous gland that must be eradicated so that the health of the region and the Arab and Islamic nation is restored overlapped with what the Islamic Jihad movement believed in the era of the start of the Islamic revolution in Iran. It is still holding on to these beliefs,” Habib told the Al-Ahed news website in an exclusive interview.

“After the revolution, Iran became a major supporter of the Palestinian resistance against the Zionist enemy,” Habib added. “Iran realized under the leadership of Imam Khomeini and still does that the existence of the Zionist entity in the Arab and Islamic region poses a major regional threat and that efforts should be made to eradicate this cancerous tumor from the body of the nation.”

He pointed out that Iran has maintained its biased policies for the Palestinian cause and is the main supporter of the Islamic and non-Islamic resistance in Palestine.

The Islamic Jihad leader said that “Iran moved from the square of spiritual, political and intellectual theft to the square of having a biased towards the nation, its culture and to the great [religion of] Islam. Early on, Imam Khomeini declared his support for the Palestinian resistance. This was translated when the “Israeli” flag was lowered from the embassy and the Palestinian flag was raised instead. This confirmed a new phase titled the full support for the Palestinian cause.”

Habib also stressed that the Islamic Republic is a fundamental and unwavering supporter of the Palestinian cause.

“We never felt that this support was aimed at asserting dominance over the resistance factions or that it is conditional. Iran supports Palestine because it believes that Palestine must be returned to its people who should live in security before the existence of the Zionist project,” he explained.

Regarding the deal of the century, Habib stated that “the positions of the Islamic Jihad completely overlap with the position of the Islamic Republic regarding the deal.”

He explains that the deal of the century is part of the bid to impose US, “Israeli” and Western dominance over the region.

“Everyone is targeted by the deal, including Iran and the Arab and Islamic nation. We are working to ensure its failure. It will fail due to the stability and resistance embodied by the Lebanese resistance, and all the resistance movements rejecting the “Israeli” and American hegemony as well as the Palestinian people who are spearheading the confrontation against the Zionist project,” Habib concluded.

Al-Ghoul: The Islamic Revolution marked a shift in Iran’s pivotal role

For his part, member of the Political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Kayed Al-Ghoul, applauded the Islamic Revolution for transforming “the region and Iran’s pivotal role in it.”

“The Shah’s regime was hostile to the Palestinian people and the people of the Ummah. It allied itself with the Zionist enemy. The Islamic Republic is its opposite. Its policy supports the Palestinian people and the Ummah. It provides support for the resistances forces. By doing so, it is supporting the Palestinian people in their fight against the Zionist occupation,” Al-Ghoul said.

Speaking to Al-Ahed, Al-Ghoul congratulated the Islamic Republic’s leadership, government and people on the 40th anniversary for the Islamic Revolution.

“One of the main features of the Iranian Revolution is the strict position not to recognize the Zionist enemy and to consider it an enemy not only of the Arab nation but also of Iran and the Islamic people. From this position, Iran defined its dealings and support for the Palestinian people in their struggle and quest to attain their full rights,” he added.

Al-Ghoul explained that “Iran supported the Palestinians, not just politically or through the media, but in a material sense too. It supported the resistance forces facing the occupation with weapons and greatly strengthened the ability of our people and the resistance in the face of the enemy.”

“We did not feel that there was pressure, especially on the popular front in the direction of adopting certain policies. Iran confirmed that its support stems from its standing alongside the Palestinian people and the forces of resistance,” Al-Ghoul said.

According to the PFLP leader,

“a common political position among the axis of resistance is the recognition of the seriousness of the deal of the century, which is aimed at liquidating the Palestinian people’s cause and its national rights. It is also aimed at paving the way towards a formal normalization of ties between [Arab] countries and the Zionist enemy. Thus, there are common political positions and coordination, but we have not reached a unified plan on how to address the deal [of the century].”

“We recognize the need to organize the efforts of the different forces in each of the Arab countries to face the risks of the deal at the level of the country itself, at the level of the interests of the nation and then the Palestinian cause,” Al-Ghoul pointed out.

He concluded by stressing the “need to form a framework that includes the various forces in the Arab countries to create a front that confronts the deal of the century and is dependent on all our allies and friends, both in the axis of resistance or other forces at the regional or international level.”

On 13 December 2018, Israeli occupation forces shot down four Palestinians, including several resistance fighters who had evaded their pursuit for months. Ashraf Na’alwa, 23, was killed by occupation forces who attacked the home where he was staying in Askar refugee camp near Nablus. He had been pursued by occupation forces since he carried out an armed resistance operation on 7 October in the illegal colonial settlement of Barkan in the northern West Bank of occupied Palestine in which two settlers were killed.

Na’alwa, a Palestinian worker at a factory in the colonial settlement, evaded occupation forces for months. During that time, his entire family was repeatedly harassed and attacked by occupation forces. His mother, sister, brother and father were all repeatedly detained and interrogated, while his home village of Shweika near Tulkarem was subjected to ongoing attacks, raids and intensive surveillance. Many of his family members remain behind bars as we remember him today. Occupation forces ordered his family home demolished, a tactic of collective punishment that the Israeli occupation continued from the former British colonial mandate over Palestine.

Israeli sources reported that Na’alwa’s location was finally revealed under “harsh interrogation,” usually a euphemism for torture under interrogation. The occupation forces deliberately aimed to kill Na’alwa, who resisted until the last moment; indeed, Israeli headlines bragged about “eliminating” the “terrorist.” Occupation forces reportedly chased Na’alwa through the camp for hours before surrounding him in the building. Around the bloody scene, occupation forces seized more Palestinians, accusing them of “providing aid” to the “wanted” resistance fighter.

The extrajudicial execution of Ashraf Na’alwa did not come alone today. Saleh Omar Barghouthi, 29, the son of former Palestinian prisoner Omar Barghouthi, who served 25 years in Israeli prisons, was shot dead near the village of Sarda near Ramallah. Barghouthi, from Kobar village, carried out an armed resistance action at Ofra illegal colonial settlement on Sunday, 9 December, wounding seven settlers. Occupation forces attacked the taxi he drove, seized him and shot him dead, according to Palestinian witnesses at the scene.

Barghouthi is also the nephew of Nael Barghouthi, one of the longest serving Palestinian prisoners, with 39 years in Israeli prison. Saleh’s brother, Asem, has spent 10 years in Israeli occupation prisons, while another uncle, Jacir, was deported to Gaza when released from Israeli prison.

Also on Thursday morning, Israeli occupation forces in Jerusalem shot Majd Mteir, 26, a Palestinian refugee from Qalandiya camp, ten to twelve times in a row. Witnesses said that Mteir was left lying on the ground bleeding for 40 minutes before his death. Occupation forces accused him of attempting to stab Israeli armed “border police” in Jerusalem.

These killings were carried out in a coordinated fashion, alongside the arrest of dozens of Palestinians on the same night. Clearly, these were intended to be a deadly blow not only against these strugglers, but also the Palestinian resistance as a whole.

Nevertheless, ensuing events made clear that the military power of the occupation and its extrajudicial executions would only inflame Palestinian resistance further. Three Israeli soldiers at the illegal colonial settlement of Givat Asaf were shot dead by unknown Palestinian resistance fighters, who left the scene, withdrawing from the area, later on Thursday morning. This response indicated that Palestinian resistance forces did not accept that the blood of these young strugglers should be spilled casually and without cost to the colonial occupier.

The assassination raids recall previous attacks, like those on Basil al-Araj and Moataz Washaha, Palestinian strugglers targeted for Israeli “elimination.” The policy of extrajudicial killings and assassinations by the Israeli state stretches back years and beyond borders, targeting resistance strugglers, local organizers and national leaders: Ghassan Kanafani, Abu Ali Mustafa, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, Khaled Nazzal, Fathi Shiqaqi, Abu Jihad, Abdel-Aziz Rantisi and many others, including some of the Palestinian people’s brightest writers, poets and emissaries to the world. Despite decades of assassinations and killings, the Palestinian resistance has not been crushed. Instead, it has continued to adapt, survive and grow, resisting a brutal, colonial occupation and its imperialist sponsors despite vast disparities in wealth and resources.

Photo: Hamdan Arda. Credit: Raya News

Israeli occupation forces have imposed a harsh siege on Ramallah and the surrounding villages. They shot dead 60-year-old Hamdan Arda, originally from the village of Arraba near Jenin, in his vehicle near el-Bireh, accusing him of attempting to run over soldiers. Arda was returning home from his aluminum factory when he was shot. As he lay inside his car, the soldiers refused to allow the Red Crescent ambulance to reach him and provide treatment. The killing of Arda came alongside attacks by soldiers and settlers on Palestinian cities and villages. Six Palestinians were wounded in el-Bireh, shot by live ammunition and rubber-coated metal bullets. Illegal colonial settlers attacked Palestinians and their vehicles in cities and towns throughout the West Bank of occupied Palestine, while Palestinians took to the streets in protest.

Palestinian political parties, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and even Fateh called for mobilization inside and outside Palestine to confront the escalating occupation attacks. Meanwhile, Palestinian Authority President Abu Mazen attempted to distance himself from “violence,” while leaving the PA’s security coordination with the Israeli occupation intact.

These events come only a week after the latest effort by Israel and the United States at the United Nations to attack and criminalize Palestinian resistance. An attempt to pass a General Assembly resolution against Palestinian resistance actions in Gaza failed. This was only the latest attempt to redefine international principles in the interests of imperialism, seeking to undermine the position expressed in UN General Assembly resolution 34/43 (1982). This document supporting Palestinian rights as well as those of African peoples fighting colonization and apartheid “Reaffirm[ed] the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle… Strongly condemn[ed] those Governments that do not recognize the right to self-determination and independence of all peoples still under colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation, notably the peoples of Africa and the Palestinian people.”

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network highlights the importance of global solidarity with the Palestinian people, their liberation movement and their resistance. We remember and honor Ashraf Na’alwa, Saleh Barghouthi, Majd Mteir and Hasan Arda, as we remember the over 200 martyrs of today’s intifada, the Great March of Return in Gaza.

As we look back on 31 years of the First Intifada and see its spirit reflected today throughout occupied Palestine, we urge people of conscience around the world to organize protests and actions to stand with Palestinians confronting occupation, colonization and imperialism. We also urge communities, municipalities, university groups and trade unions to escalate the boycott of Israel, including economic, academic and cultural boycott – and especially a military embargo of the occupation state.

The lives of these strugglers shall not be lost in vain, but will live on as symbols of resistance and the ability of an indigenous people to struggle by all means despite the most challenging odds and the most disadvantageous balance of power. From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!